Bifurcation analysis of delay-induced patterns in a ring of Hodgkin–Huxley neurons

Rings of delay-coupled neurons possess a striking capability to produce various stable spiking patterns. In order to reveal the mechanisms of their appearance, we present a bifurcation analysis of the Hodgkin–Huxley (HH) system with delayed feedback as well as a closed loop of HH neurons. We consider mainly the effects of external currents and communication delays. It is shown that typically periodic patterns of different spatial form (wavenumber) appear via Hopf bifurcations as the external current or time delay changes. The Hopf bifurcations are shown to occur in relatively narrow regions of the external current values, which are independent of the delays. Additional patterns, which have the same wavenumbers as the existing ones, appear via saddle–node bifurcations of limit cycles. The obtained bifurcation diagrams are evidence for the important role of communication delays for the emergence of multiple coexistent spiking patterns. The effects of a short-cut, which destroys the rotational symmetry of the ring, are also briefly discussed.